It wasn’t batting practice, it was malpractice: Yankees are to blame for Aaron Judge’s botched diagnosis

Updated Mar 08, 2020; Posted Mar 07, 2020

Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge will begin the season on the injury list rehabbing from an issue that probably would have been healed by now if the team's medical staff had diagnosed the problem when it occurred last September.AP

TAMPA — If George Steinbrenner were alive and still running the Yankees, they’d be looking for new trainers and team doctors -- even after a bunch of them were fired last winter.

You can almost hear Steinbrenner bellowing: “Can anyone diagnose a (bleeping) injury around here?”

Three of the Yankees biggest -- and highest-paid stars -- outfielder Aaron Judge and pitchers James Paxton and Luis Severino have been sidelined in spring training with injuries they suffered last season.

Doctor J could’ve kept the Yankees healthier.

Judge, the latest star sidelined in this massive screwup, has a stress fracture to his first right rib that he suffered while diving for a ball in September. The Yankees will reassess Judge after two weeks, they said Friday -- as if Judge, after failing to heal over the past six months will miraculously mend in two weeks. Opening Day is less than three weeks away.

And think about what we just said: Judge had a broken bone in his body and Yankees doctors couldn’t find it -- even after Judge told team trainers he heard a “crack” and a “pop" last Sept. 18, when he tried to rob the Angels’ Albert Pujols of a single.

Give the Yankees credit for making Judge get an MRI, which revealed no damage.

But remember: He heard a “crack" and a "pop.”

After sitting one day, Judge was back in the lineup for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs, even though he needed multiple cortisone shots to deal with his pain.

You can give the Yankees a pass for sticking Judge into the lineup each day because there was a world championship to win. But Judge is their franchise player, to whom they could be awarding a $300 million contract someday. If the Yankees were going to put his health at risk for the sake of a title, then they should’ve made sure they found out what was wrong when the postseason ended.

They didn’t.

Remember: He heard a “crack" and a "pop.”

When the Yankees lost to the Astros in the ALCS after winning 103 regular-season games and sweeping the Twins in the ALDS, Judge headed home to Northern California on a personal mission to be prepared to have a monster year in 2020.

As far as we know, the Yankees didn’t run anymore tests, didn’t give Judge a strategy for the offseason, didn’t closely monitor his activities. So, Judge worked out like a maniac, hitting all winter, and throughout November, December and January, there was more shoulder and pec discomfort.

“Me pissed about how the season ended last year and the changes I wanted to make, I went right back to it,” Judge said. “We’ve all been through pain, bumps and bruises. In my head, I felt like it was something that I could fight through, and I think that kind of cost me a little bit there.”

Judge figured he’d be fine by the start of spring training, but he wasn’t.

He’s also a baseball player, not a doctor.

Remember: He heard a “crack" and a "pop.”

Anyway, by late January, Judge was hitting in Tampa and still hurting.

Judge was rested, received treatment and had another MRI, which showed nothing abnormal.

Day after day, the Yankees kept saying Judge was improving until the pain intensified last week. Finally, the Yankees opted to give Judge a battery of tests to get to the bottom of this issue.

Remember: He heard a “crack" and a "pop.”

This could have been done in October.

It could have been done at the start of spring training.

Judge will begin the 2020 season on the injured list. Who knows when he might be ready to play? Given the way the Yankees have botched this, would it surprise anyone to hear Judge will have surgery and miss the entire season?

According to verywellhealth.com, Judge’s injury takes three to six months to heal without surgery. He was told on Friday that he’s probably halfway through the healing process, so best-case scenario he’s six weeks to three months from being healed.

The Yankees had a bunch of star players diagnosed with seemingly minor issues last season, only to miss months -- slugger Giancarlo Stanton, outfielder Aaron Hicks, Severino and reliever Dellin Betances, among others.

For the Yankees, it’s not an X-ray, it’s a Hex-ray.

This spring, it happened again with Severino, whose shoulder discomfort turned out to be an UCL tear. He needed Tommy John surgery.